Frugaleers hurtling through November... is it too early to mention the C word? All welcome for money saving chat!

[Cagliostro]

Hi all, please settle in for chatting about all things frugal, and all things everything else :o

£2.50 sainsburys.

Great idea lonely

Em Can you get an anti-molestation order on him?.

I assume he doesn’t have any bail conditions yet not to contact you em?

I’m just lurking at the moment but I am reading along. Lots going on and still feeling rubbish

Hi everyone, can I join in? I am not skint as such but can't seem to save any money despite having a healthy income. Our house is in need of lots of repairs but money seems to fly out my purse before I can do any of them. I can't remember the last time I had a NSD and our shopping bill is sky high despite having two takeaways each week

@Bornlazy of course you can everyone welcome here!
Are you throwing away food weekly?

Mammy yes. I often need to empty the fridge to make room for the new food. The freezer is like a stopgap for the bin. The ironic thing is I am a prolific bargain hunter, but waste money in so many other ways.

Welcome bornlazy sounds like this thread might be quite useful for you as it makes you a lot more accountable when coming here to confess spends! Have you got kids?

I have two boys, 14 and 12, who think money grows on trees. The 14 yr old's Christmas list is eye watering... I don't spend money on myself, just everyone else. I need to get more organised and learn to say no.

If you started getting organised on the food i bet you'd save a fair bit of money quite quickly, batch cooking, shopping lists, fake aways etc

I need to meal plan and stick to it. I don't really enjoy cooking and totally lack inspiration. Eat Well For Less would have a field day with me.

Had the best time yesterday! Too much to catch up on. Didn't spend too much I don't think, the dc were so well behaved despite being in the car for over two hours and then at Longleat for nine.

Hi born
Pleased you had a good day wreck.
Sorry you are having neighbours issues em. Deffo report it.

Hi Born.

I’ve got teenagers too, I feel the pain of how much they eat. The male variety especially.

It’s all about the planning really. Pinterest is good for cheap and simple recipe ideas. There lots of things you can do with a packet of mince. One ‘cheap’ meal a week, like jacket spuds or omelettes or pasta and tomato sauce does help. Pesto and pasta easy too. The guys know I’m a Jamie Oliver fan, but actually, some of the recipes in his new book as super simple and quick and have just 5 recipes.

The takeouts are expensive and unhealthy, would it help to physically stick the monetary equivalent in a tin for a month and see what’s in it at the end?

Morning born I second Jamie Oliver’s new book. Or save with Jamie. Or ministry of food if you’re not much of a cook. Recipes in that one are so easy.

I’m realising that one day ds (10 weeks today!!) will be a hulking teenager. Eek.

fluffy ds and I have just been to the police station. They said as it’s a first offence no they can’t slap an anti molestation order on him. They were apologetic but apparently he has to repeatedly aggravate...

His landlord doesn’t seem bothered either. Dh is in agreement that flat will go on the market in January. And in the mean time I’m ignore ignore ignore and voice record everything when I’m out of the flat on my own just in case (obviously only in the car park or communal areas). I also have an attack alarm I found in a drawer. It still works - dh pulled the string yesterday. Jeeeeeez. LOUD!! I’m of the opinion that I won’t need it but...safety.

Anyway. Home Now and have had tea and toast with ds. Washing to be done - never ending cycle of laundry... and tidying hoovering etc. I had hoped to go to yoga this morning but only got back at 930 and the class starts at 10.

We’re going to dparents for dinner.

That's a good idea need. Sometimes the takeaways aren't even that nice. It's just a habit we've got into. Will meal plan later today for next week.

Welcome Born. We saved a fortune when we cut out weekly takeaways. We now have one every so often and it's a proper treat!

Cag pm your address and I'll send some clothes as soon as they are all washed and sorted.

Terrible night last night. I've been up since 3.30

Thanks, will definitely try some Jamie Oliver recipes.

You're right snuggly it's not a treat at the moment it's just expected. I didn't grow up with takeaways (not enough money) and sometimes think I over compensate.

Em at least selling was on the cards anyhow, i would continue to report this ass everytime so that a file will be formed on him.

Born We only ever had takeaways every fortnight or so & now I'd say it's probably only every 6-8 weeks and we don't even enjoy them that much now.
*
Snuggly sorry to hear about* your bad nights sleep. I'm in a serious pattern of early wakings myself & wrecked then as day goes on.

Absolutely mammy it’s not like we feel forced out. We were going to try and sell in March/April time before I go back to work but it can’t hurt to try earlier. To be honest it may work in our favour. Our flat is lovely and cosy warm. Light and airy and actually really spacious for a 22 bed. We bought it in autumn/winter and we loved it. In summer it is good to have the windows open etc but all anyone’s looking for in summer is outside space. Winter you want to be cosy. We are cosy. It’s freezing cold outside but I still haven’t turned the heating on. We are all windows (bar one) south facing and all (bar one) double glazed and are sandwiches between two other apartments. Hopefully it’ll sell quick.

Bins taken out.
Bottles sterilised - formula is all measured out in its little pots ready to go for the day.
Washing up done
Washing out away
Second load of laundry ready to go
Advent calendar opened (thanks DM for the Lindt one! )
Kitchen tidied

Am now sitting on the kitchen stool drinking water. I have fallen back into the habit of not drinking enough water. Must. Must drink more. I had half a glass of water yesterday a cup of tea and a beer. That’s it. Bad. Bad. Bad.

I can't believe you don't need the heating on em that's amazing, must save you a fortune!

We are just back from town spent £21 in boots on some make up for dm, it came with a free gift which was a bonus. I think I'm done with Christmas shopping

It’s great girlie I do have a thermometer in every room now ds is here to make sure he’s not cold the one in the living room where I am now says it’s 19 degrees. Not sure how accurate this is but dh is in a tshirt and I haven’t got a jumper on.

“Wife” fail. I’ve washed dh’s wallet. Ffs. I’m in charge of laundry. He is in charge of emptying pockets. A few weeks ago I washed his fancy blue tooth wireless headphones.

Hopefully his cards will be ok...

Hi everyone,

having a lazy Sunday morning but I'll get moving shortly and get the uniforms washed and do a quick tidy around the house.

I went to my friend's retirement do on Friday night and spent about €40 - €45 on a round of drinks. It was a nice evening and I got to meet up with some other retired colleagues that I haven't seen for a while. The venue was very cold though (we'd hired a room upstairs in a pub). We asked the staff to put the heating on. They said it was already on but it obviously wasn't very effective. The annoying thing was that there was a big fireplace right behind us with a gas fire (looked real) but it wasn't working. They were also very late serving up the finger food and about half the people had left by the time it arrived.

DD started her period on Friday at school. I felt a bit guilty that I was out socializing and didn't get home to her until yesterday. She had access to sanitary towels though.

Yesterday I spent €3.68 on two lots of sanitary towels for DD (so she can experiment and see which suits her best). I also spent €14.50 in Penneys on underwear and a Dobby t-shirt for DD for Christmas. But I've just realized (looking at my receipt) that the shop assistant only charged me €10.50. Oops! I handed her a €50 note but she entered €5 and then €50 so she gave me change from €55.

We were invited to dinner at a friend's house last night but bought some wine and nachos etc. to take with us. We forgot to record Strictly .

My lovely neighbour (the mammy of DD's BFF) has taken DD to the cinema. Did I mention that she's lovely?

Today should be a NSD.

mammy I missed the Toy Show on Friday night but DD recorded it for me so I'm going to watch it with her later. She watched it with DH but she's quite happy to watch it again.

Cag we have Netflix. I'm currently watching 'Poldark' and 'Call the midwife'. I seem to miss all these series when they're shown on TV so it's good to catch up with them later. DD watches a lot of TV on it too. DH doesn't really bother with it but then again, he doesn't watch much TV.

Wreck glad you enjoyed your day at Longleat

Oh em I was so shocked when I read about your encounter with your neighbour . What a horrible bully! I hope that your mention of the police will scare him off.

Seacow I was dizzy reading your list of tasks achieved yesterday! Take a bow!

Bornlazy welcome to our frugaleering group. There are lots of lovely supportive posters here. Sounds like you've already identified your problem areas (take aways and failure to meal plan) so there's potential for savings to be made. Looking forward to getting to know you better. My big problem with money has always been lack of planning. I never really saved and then when the recession hit (and it hit very hard), we'd nothing to fall back on. It has taken a few years for us to get back on our feet. We're in a better place financially now so my big New Year's resolution is to set up savings accounts for different things (college fund, holidays, car maintenance, long term savings etc.). DH gets paid monthly. I get paid fortnightly but I only work part time. So I'm going to put away our savings as soon as DH's pay day rolls around. Then we'll live off the balance.

Sorry for the epic post!

I haven't done a lot yet today! Just pottering about.

Dp has rather epically got on with the small house shed. Walls clad, roof on. Felt, floor and finishing to go. One small wall to clad, but we need to get the shop counter in first, we will get to that this week.

Fail for today is nothing out of the freezer for tea. So it might have to be mince again as I have no qualms about cooking that from frozen on the hob. Or we could go for a macdonalds... 40 mile round trip and at least £30 it really doesn't seem worth it. Wonder if dp would go for a Chinese...same price but closer and much better food (we have a really good one).

Welcome born I also fail to meal plan, I totally overbuy, but generally non perishables, and am very lax about best befores so throw very little out I'm also a hoarder This thread that I've been on for almost a year now, has helped me so much to reign in my spending, I've not been in my overdraft for over 6 months, a year ago I never came out of it . With no extra income at all, just spending less, less often.